Biography

Dr. Judy Cho earned her B.A. and M.D. at Ohio State University, where she graduated summa cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and AOA. After postdoctoral training at Northwestern University, she became a faculty member at the University of Chicago. In 2004, she was recruited as Associate Professor to Yale University where she became the Henry J. and Joan W. Binder Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Pediatrics.
Dr. Cho was recruited in 2013 to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as the Ward-Coleman Professor of Translational Genetics and Medicine, Vice-Chair of Translational Genetics and Gastroenterology and Director of Ceported. She is currently the Principal Investigator and chair of the Steering Committee of the NIDDK IBD Genetics Consortium and is a member of the NIDDK Advisory Council. She is also on the council of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is active in the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and the American Gastroenterology Association, serving on its Research Policy Committee.
Dr. Cho has extensive experience in defining genetic factors underlying susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). She was the senior investigator reporting the initial associations of NOD2 to Crohn’s disease, the IBD GWAS first identifying the interleukin 23 receptor associations, and most recently, the IBD Immunochip manuscript identifying 163 IBD-assoicated loci. She is particularly interested in defining the genetic architecture underlying the higher IBD prevalence among Ashkenazi Jews. Her laboratory is interested in defining the genetic architecture underlying differentiation of distinct immune cell subsets, differences in epigenetic landscape of immune cell subsets, and their effects in IBD. Her research has been supported by various NIH institutes (NIDDK, NCRR, NIAID, and NIGMS), the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, and The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Because Dr. Cho has served as Principal Investigator for the DCC of the 7 center NIDDK IBD Genetics Consortium (IBDGC) for the past twelve years, she also has extensive experience in leading multi-investigator research groups. During the present period of funding, the IBDGC has been charged with developing new collaborations in order to define the functional effects of IBD-associated variants. In this capacity, they have supported a variety of ancillary R01 applications from multi-disciplinary collaborators (epigeneticists, immunologists, systems biologists) in order to fully leverage the extensive IBD genetic discoveries.

Research

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a group of conditions of the gastrointestinal tract with chronic or recurring immune response and inflammation. The two most common types are Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD). Other types of IBD include Indeterminate Colitis (IC) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unclassified (IBDU). These are considered more as temporary diagnoses when the difference between UC and CD cannot be determined at the time of presentation. In the United States, about 1 – 1.3 million people suffer from IBD. Although IBD can affect people of all ages, the peak age of onset is between 15 and 30 years old. The exact cause of IBD is not entirely understood, but it is known to involve an interaction between genes, the immune system, and environmental factors.

Industry Relationships

Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.

Dr. Cho has not yet completed reporting of Industry relationships.

Mount Sinai's faculty policies relating to faculty collaboration with industry are posted on our website.
Patients may wish to ask their physician about the activities they perform for companies.

Insurance Information

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